Abu Dhabi: The UAE suffered a 2-0 defeat to North Korea on Wednesday in their final friendly before they embark on the third and final 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifiers next week.
The game was played behind closed doors in Shanghai, China, so no details on goalscorers or the Whites’ team or performance were available at the time of going to press.
But the UAE coach, Mahdi Ali, is unlikely to be too worried about the loss, even though his side lie 25 places higher in the Fifa rankings than the North Koreans at 74.
He was without 10 players from Al Ain and Al Nasr combined given their AFC Champions League quarter-final commitments on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Among those missing were key playmaker Omar Abdul Rahman, who will fly to join his teammates in China on Thursday.
The Al Nasr pair of Khalid Jalal and Salem Saleh were set to travel separately from Qatar after their side’s game with Al Jaish in Doha on Wednesday evening.
Ali’s men — who returned earlier this month from a four-week training camp in Spain involving four friendlies — will then commence their final preparations before they travel to Japan for their Group B opener on September 1.
They will then entertain the reigning Asian champions Australia five days later, with Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Thailand their other opponents in the pool.
A top-two finish when the campaign winds up in September 2017 will guarantee progression to Russia, which would be their second World Cup finals appearance after Italia 1990. If they end up third in Group B, they will meet the same side from Group A in a battle to reach the inter-confederation play-off.